OPTIMUM UTILIZATION % - WHAT SHOULD IT BE - EXPERTS PLEASE - THANK YOU

[CUBANCOMET]

I am reading two opinions, quite a lot, throughout the internet.

Some say pif all your cards for 0 utilization.

Others say leave 1-10 %.

who is right????

[haulingthescoreup]

1. Have your overall util between 1% and 9%. I've had my overall at less than 1/100th of 1%, and that was fine, too.

2. Have each card 9% or less; 4% or less seems better.

3. For optimum, have as many cards as possible at $0, and one or two showing a balance of 1-9% (1-4% seems even better.)

Before I blew my scores out of the water, I actually did best on TU (only on TU) to have all cards at $0, but I've read so many results from others that they were hurt with all $0's that I think that was a quirk of my particular bucket and situation. HTH

[Anonymous]

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@haulingthescoreup wrote:
3. For optimum, have as many cards as possible at $0, and one or two showing a balance of 1-9% (1-4% seems even better.)

Before I blew my scores out of the water, I actually did best on TU (only on TU) to have all cards at $0, but I've read so many results from others that they were hurt with all $0's that I think that was a quirk of my particular bucket and situation. HTH

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Is this 1-9% of total CC util? or 1-9% of the individual CC?

I've always thought the util questions here pertained to overall util. But you point #2 has raised some questions in me.

Thanks.

[haulingthescoreup]

FICO scores you on both overall AND individual util. So it's possible to have really high util on one card, for instance a 0% BT card, and still have overall low util. You have to have a pretty high total credit limit though.

As best as I can tell, that under 10% think applies to both cases.

Some members have posted not being smacked on their scores with one really high util card and everything else low or $0. There haven't been enough posts about this from different people to figure out exactly when this happens. The dust is still settling on my scores, and I have another $4K in total credit limit to show up (with two more cards), so it will be a while before I figure out if this is true for me.

[fused]

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haulingthescoreup wrote:
FICO scores you on both overall AND individual util. So it's possible to have really high util on one card, for instance a 0% BT card, and still have overall low util. You have to have a pretty high total credit limit though.

As best as I can tell, that under 10% think applies to both cases.

Some members have posted not being smacked on their scores with one really high util card and everything else low or $0. There haven't been enough posts about this from different people to figure out exactly when this happens. The dust is still settling on my scores, and I have another $4K in total credit limit to show up (with two more cards), so it will be a while before I figure out if this is true for me.

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It's been rumored that folks with thick files are more likely to get away with a single CC nearly maxed-out.

[MidnightVoice]

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fused wrote:

It's been rumored that folks with thick files are more likely to get away with a single CC nearly maxed-out.

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Well, EX thinks my Heloc is a CC and hates it being at 75% util! (50 points of hate)

[fused]

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MidnightVoice wrote:

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fused wrote:

It's been rumored that folks with thick files are more likely to get away with a single CC nearly maxed-out.

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Well, EX thinks my Heloc is a CC and hates it being at 75% util! (50 points of hate)

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Are you sure EX has it wrong and your not lender miscoding it? I have a new BoA unsecured LOC for 26.5K (not tied to a house) and it's reported as a home equity loan on EX.

[Anonymous]

I just got a shock.

I got an e-mail today that my credit score went down 18pts, from 730 to 712...the reason given was vague.

I have 11 personal credit cards (one card has a credit limits up to 55.5k) and utilization on all cards from 0 to 30%, that i keep a close eye on.

Then i needed to make a business charge, so i used one of my personal cards w/ 0 balance so i could know the $$$$ used separate from my personal charge.

But, stupid me, i picked a card w/ a 3.5k limit for a 1.7k charge....i.e. over 50% utilization. Last Tuesday (Mar11) was the statement date, so I and the world found out about it Mar12, my credit dropped 18 pts on Mar14.

What i should have done is pay it off or to 1-9% utilization before Mar11.

[haulingthescoreup]

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@fused wrote:

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@haulingthescoreup wrote:
Some members have posted not being smacked on their scores with one really high util card and everything else low or $0. There haven't been enough posts about this from different people to figure out exactly when this happens. The dust is still settling on my scores, and I have another $4K in total credit limit to show up (with two more cards), so it will be a while before I figure out if this is true for me.

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It's been rumored that folks with thick files are more likely to get away with a single CC nearly maxed-out.

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Well, I thickened it up the best I could!

We'll see. I doubt that 13 open accounts, 18 total will do the trick.

[MidnightVoice]

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fused wrote:

Are you sure EX has it wrong and your not lender miscoding it? I have a new BoA unsecured LOC for 26.5K (not tied to a house) and it's reported as a home equity loan on EX.

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I think the CU has it right, and it is not considered a CC by TU or EQ.  But it is not worth any effort to follow up - it is really not impacting my life adversely at the moment